Plans and Surprises
by Superbleh11
Summary: [Tokka] [Sokka x Toph] A mildly short oneshot, taking place during Nightmares and Daydreams.  Sokka meditates on the upcoming Invasion while training, and gets a visit from our favorite blind Earthbender!  Mildly fluffy.


**Plans and Surprises**

The sun reflects oddly against the black blade of my sword. I see my reflection, distorted, and yet oddly recognizable in its bright darkness. I close my eyes, let my lungs taste the cold evening air, and focus my thoughts into a blinding light at the end of a dark tunnel. Slowly, carefully, I extend myself. One foot leaves the ground, countering my weight as I lean forward, the point of the _jian _reaching out into the painted background.

My brow furrows in concentration. Time to begin!

I let go, and my body flows into the Eight Immortals. My heavily trained limbs take over, and I am free to move by instinct. Master Piandou's words stay with me: creativity, intelligence, truth to oneself. This is how I work. This is how I benefit the cause.

It's not easy for me. I don't have the natural bending skills. My abilities are solely dependent on myself, so I make the sword an extension of my soul. Over, around, through! The weapon swirls through the air like a paintbrush until I retract. My knee comes in to kiss my chest, the blade flips behind my back, two fingers extend from my free hand as if gesturing to wait. I am held to the ground only by the sole of my shoe, which grips the dusty earth. A bitingly cold trickle of sweat traces a path down my neck and in between my shoulder blades.

Now my mind can wander, as memory will drive my body.

The battle is in four days. Perhaps the last battle of the war. It's a serious situation, isn't it?

I know what you're thinking. Sokka, serious? Not something I try to overindulge in. It makes things a little too depressing. But I know my place in the team, I know what I have to do, and what I have to do is plan and be Sokka.

Being Sokka is pretty tough, I've got to say. Not only do I not have the whole phenomenal element bending thing going for me, but I've also got one of the biggest responsibilities. The idea guy. How much does everyone depend on my brain to be a little quicker than the Fire Nation's? It's not as if I don't like it, though. I love that I can still help and be useful, even if I can't do things like punch holes in mountains or float on air. I just know that the tiniest little screw up on my part can spell disaster for everyone. I won't let them down. I can't let them down.

I start the toughest part of this Immortal, looping the sword around, but retaining enough balance to launch forward with a series of twirling kicks. Aang said it looks like dancing, but I feel a little more like a spectator. Three processions, the sword licks out and my feet leave the ground, the toe arcs, lands, and catches my full weight almost instantaneously. I keep my balance, and rotate, until I can pull my sword behind me and finish the form.

I want to keep the team together. That's my deepest, most powerful instinct. I want to charge into the castle with Toph, Katara, and Aang so we can lay the smack down on this Fire Lord chump and save the world. A smile worms it's way onto my lips. That would be a terrible idea, to leave the armies to fight while we go for the castle. There would be no connection between us and them, their hope would dissipate and a whole lot of people would get killed needlessly. No, at least in the beginning, we have to split up and front our areas of the offensive.

Aang is the most difficult to place, strategically. He's a prodigy, he's incredible to watch, and his bending is so amazing it's hard to believe, but he lacks confidence, especially right now. The stress has really gotten to the poor kid; I don't think he's slept in quite awhile. It might be best to have him with us on the initial assault, then send him forward to take down Ozai when we can hold a position. Aang has all the strength he needs, but the troops are going to need to see the Avatar as invincible, and watching him question his abilities wouldn't help their morale. I know that kid can pull off miracles. I've seen them happen. He can do it. We can all trust him to win while we fight to give him the chance.

Katara is easy to place. Her waterbending has become damn near unbelievable; it's hard to believe that just a year ago she couldn't bend her way out of a paper bag. She's going to have to be with the infantry, the Water Tribe and the Earthbenders. They'll see her fight like a dragon and then heal the wounded, and realize that even if they go down, she'll do everything she can to save them. She's sweet and kind, and her optimism will rub off on everyone that needs it.

Toph Bei Fong. I start to laugh without even realizing it. Toph is just Toph. Unrelenting, unyielding, and tough as nails, just like the element she's so ridiculously good at. She calls herself the "Best Earthbender in the World", and I have to say, I believe her. I think I'll just let Toph be Toph and do what she does best. I couldn't order her anywhere anyway, she'd just rebel and do whatever she pleased, just like always. She'll either inspire the others with her incredible power, or she'll make them all feel like babies, because of how tiny and blind she is. Either way, they'll all fight harder. No, I don't need to worry about little Toph Bei Fong.

I've leapt forward, in a do-or-die lunge: I launch forward, draining every ounce of speed my poor legs can lend me. My foot catches on an unseen enemy, a rock I hadn't noticed, jutting angrily out of the otherwise flat ground. All focus and collection leave me, as I tumble forward in a heap. My chin hits the ground like a hammer. Some dancer, huh?

As if on cue, I hear the malicious giggling of a very familiar voice. Realization dawns on me.

"Why do you feel the need to pick on me?" I ask around a mouthful of dirt.

"Hey, it's not my fault you can't keep your balance, Snoozles," she taunts, and plops down next to a tree. She stretches languidly, and rests her arms behind her head.

I sit up, and caress my sore jaw. "Have you just been sitting there, waiting for the opportunity to trip me up?"

She doesn't say anything, only widens her grin. She's a hard girl to figure out.

"What, you've got nothing important to do, so you just come over here to torment poor non-bending Sokka? Is that it?" I ponder moodily, trying to gauge her reaction.

"Pretty much," she states simply, "I've got no other entertainment. Aang's going crazy and Katara is never any fun. You're an accident waiting to happen."

I ooze, "Gee, thanks. That's really sweet of you," and sit down beside her. It's weird with Toph. Even though she's looking out far away, I can tell she's staring right at me. Her milky green eyes are deceptive, the trick is to watch her ears. They'll twitch when you move if she's focused on you. Her ghostly gaze may be centered on nothing, but I know that her attention is centered on me as closely as if she were in a fight.

"Are you nervous?" I ask. The question surprises me, it comes out of nowhere. I guess I'm just curious as to how little Toph's mind works.

"Hell no," she answers, "Nothing's gonna touch me, I'm too awesome."

"Yeah, I'm nervous, too," I respond. Her expression sours slightly, which delights me. I actually got her!

She snorts. "Well, if I'm nervous, it's not because I'm worried anything will happen to me. It's people like the Sugar Queen and _your _clumsy butt that I have to worry about."

That's surprisingly candid for Toph. I'm not sure what to say, it's just about the closest to worrying about me that she's ever been.

"You just make sure you're careful, ok? I don't want to have to come to everybody's rescue. Just use that little bitty head of yours while you're out there."

I smile, more to myself than anything. Hell, I have to admit, I'm touched. And I don't get sentimental.

"Don't worry," I say, "I'll try my best to keep everyone, including me, in one piece. _You _just make sure that _you _don't do anything dumb and reckless, ok?"

"Ha, don't worry, I wouldn't want to deprive you of my company!" she jostles. Her foot bobs idly in the air, and silence ensues. One of the things I like about Toph is that she doesn't feel the need to fill the air with pointless, constant conversation. She leaves that to me, just the way I like it. A chill breeze swoops through the air, and I shiver, as a twirling leaf catches my eye. I watch it fall to the ground. I know Toph can hear the leaf when it's in the air, and I know she can feel it when it's on the ground. I wonder how her senses really see people, how I appear to her.

"If I'm nervous, that's not necessarily a bad thing, right?" she asks slowly, as if tasting the words before releasing them.

I'm worried about her now. This is very unlike Toph. The smile has left her features, and for the first time since I've known her, she looks small, helpless, and truly blind. Empathy suddenly fires on all cylinders, as I realize what her resilience must do to her insides. She's got no release to the outside world.

"Of course it isn't, Toph," I answer seriously, "Everyone is scared. This day is going to be huge, and I, for one, am terrified. I'm terrified of making a mistake, and someone getting killed because of it. I'm terrified that one of you might get hurt. It'd be inhuman of you not to be nervous."

The breeze attacks again, catching her raven-black hair. She sighs worriedly, the sound mimics the wind. "Please, just be careful, ok? All joking aside, _please_ be careful. You've really gotten better, I could feel your balance shifting when you were training. You were really stable, and solid. Just...I don't know...trust that. You don't need to prove anything to anybody, just use your head, like you always do, and don't do anything too daring."

The thought that she might have walked over here just to say this to me crosses my mind, but I quickly dismiss it. This is Toph, after all.

"Toph, listen," I start, as I lean back against the tree, "You don't need to worry about me. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be careful, I promise. I wouldn't want you to be stuck with only the Sugar Queen and Twinkletoes, after all. It'd be downright mean of me to leave you that bored!"

My heart leaps into my throat, a fist of shock grips me as I feel Toph's arms wrap themselves around my stomach. A strange warmth fills me, and I can do nothing but return the hug as Toph lays her cheek to rest against my chest. One of my arms snakes around her back, the other cradles her head, and I hold her. The sunset is so beautiful, I could almost cry.

"It's going to be ok, Toph," I tell her. She says nothing. She doesn't need to. My heart goes out to her as she pulls away.

I wince as her fist rockets into my arm. Tendrils of pain fire up my shoulder, and now I'm really confused.

"If you tell anyone that I hugged you like this, there's nothing in the world that will be able to save you, understand?" she fires at me, as her face flushes crimson.

Toph is so tough to figure out.

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A/N: Well, there it is! My first ever fanfic. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I've got to admit, I wasn't actually planning on it being so Tokka heavy when I started, but the hug just kind of wrote itself, and who am I to stop Toph from getting what she wants? Please R&R, I'll probably start up a chapter story if people actually liked this one, and it'll probably star Sokka and Toph, cuz they're my favorites. Thanks for reading the whole thing!


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